nude (adj.)

1530s, a legal term, "unsupported, not formally attested," from Latin nudus "naked, bare, unclothed, stripped" (see naked). General sense of "mere, plain, simple" attested from 1550s. In reference to the human body, meaning "unclothed," it is an artistic euphemism for naked, dating from 1610s (implied in nudity) but not in common use in this sense until mid-19c.